Джон Коннолли - The Dirty South

‘Why is that?’

‘We’ve been hearing rumors out of Little Rock,’ said Shire. ‘It appears that Randall Butcher has vanished, just as he was hours away from being indicted on federal charges. He’s gone into hiding, and now it seems you might have found out where he is.’ Shire paused for Cade to absorb this information, then resumed: ‘It would be better if Butcher didn’t return to Little Rock to face those charges. Who knows what lies he might tell to save himself?’

Jurel Cade didn’t want to hear this. It was one thing to see Butcher ruined, but another to let Leonard Cresil put a bullet in his head. Cade had done many bad things in his time. He had manipulated and broken the law, sometimes in what he perceived to be the larger interests of justice, and occasionally out of expediency or to benefit his family or its confederates, but he had yet to collude in a killing.

‘That’s not how we operate here,’ he said.

‘It is now.’

84

It was called a delayed discharge. Parker didn’t know how old Pettle’s gun was, or the condition of the ammunition. Given his success in using it to kill Denny Rhinehart, the cartridge might just have been a dud. Whatever the reason, when Pettle pulled the trigger, the primer in the cartridge went off, but the bullet didn’t immediately fire. Parker didn’t bother reaching for his own weapon as soon as Pettle turned his gun on himself, because there was no percentage in threatening to shoot a man already intent on suicide. The priority was to disarm him.

But Pettle wasn’t used to handling a gun, particularly not one that had malfunctioned. He removed the barrel from beneath his chin just as the pressure from the propellant built up sufficiently to fire the bullet. It entered Pettle’s lower jaw from the right, and exited through his left cheek, taking bone, teeth, and most of Pettle’s tongue and palate with it. By the time Evan Griffin arrived with the cavalry, Parker was holding a towel to the injury with one hand and trying to dial 911 with the other. He let Lorrie Colson, who had emergency medical training, take over, and sat back against the kitchen cabinets. His ears were ringing from the shot and he was shaking from the rush of adrenaline. Griffin handed him a bottle of water before walking with him to the front yard. The neighbors had already gathered, and Kel Knight and Naylor were keeping them back.

‘Why did he kill Rhinehart?’ said Griffin.

‘I’m still not sure,’ said Parker. ‘I think Rhinehart was threatening to ruin him by informing you – and, by extension, the rest of the town – about his affair with Sallie Kernigan, potentially bringing him into the frame for Donna Lee’s murder. But Rhinehart was also bothering Donna Lee, and Pettle felt very protective toward her.’

‘Anything more than that?’

Parker shrugged. ‘Who can tell?’

‘Could Pettle have murdered Donna Lee?’

‘I don’t think he did.’

‘What about Rhinehart?’

‘Pettle didn’t say that he held Rhinehart responsible for Donna Lee’s death. Mainly, he just didn’t like him.’

‘There are a lot of people I don’t like,’ said Griffin, ‘but I’ve left their skulls intact.’

The ambulance arrived, and they stepped back to let the crew enter the house.

‘I think Pettle was going to kill his wife,’ said Parker. ‘After that, he’d have killed himself.’

‘He may wish he’d succeeded with that last part. His face is a mess.’

‘I should never have let it get that far.’

‘Do you feel sorry for him?’ said Griffin.

‘Just enough. Don’t you?’

‘The prosecutor will probably push for second-degree murder, so he’ll be spared the needle. I was going to call in the state police to help us with the Rhinehart case, and to hell with the consequences. Not much cause to do that now.’

Parker sipped the water slowly. His belly felt ready to rebel and his hands were shaking. Had he eaten more during the day, he would probably have puked on the lawn.

‘Pettle told me that Pappy Cade might have colluded with Hollis Ward in the abuse of children,’ he said.

‘Did he offer any proof, or names of victims?’

‘No.’

‘Then where does that leave us?’

‘As we were. Still, it’s interesting to know.’

‘I have another question,’ said Griffin.

‘Shoot.’

‘Why is there a dead possum in the department’s freezer?’

But before Parker could answer, a car turned onto the street and pulled up behind the crowd of onlookers. Delores Pettle emerged from behind the wheel, one hand raised to her mouth. Griffin prepared to meet her.

‘I don’t even know,’ he told Parker sadly, ‘where to begin.’

85

It was not that Delphia Cade was devoid of faith in her brother Jurel, but rather that she lacked sufficient trust in him to rely on his word or authority alone in any given set of circumstances. Nevertheless, the news that Randall Butcher’s future was likely to include extensive involvement with prosecutors and defense lawyers, followed by a long period of federal incarceration, was a source of no small pleasure and relief to her. If Jurel could be the one to lay hands on Butcher, so much the better, but even should he fail to do so, Butcher’s ambitions would no longer be a problem for the Cade family.

On the other hand, having spoken briefly with Leonard Cresil, Butcher’s flight from justice meant that it would now be impossible to call off the men he had dispatched to deal with Charlie Parker. This fact did not unduly trouble Delphia. Parker was an outsider, a jinx, and in all likelihood a killer. There was also the matter of her personal pride: he had rejected her offer of an olive branch, and Delphia was not about to let that slight pass unpunished.

Now, in her apartment in the Hillcrest area of Little Rock, she sipped vodka with just a splash of tonic, and leafed through the clippings file on Parker assembled by her assistant. The reports on the deaths of his wife and child were frustratingly discreet, but Jurel and Cresil combined had provided her with a more detailed description of the end suffered by Parker’s family. It had been almost artistic: cruel, yes, but also strangely beautiful. Delphia thought she would be most interested to meet the man responsible for killing them.

If nothing else, he had an admirable level of ambition.

Parker returned to the Lakeside Inn shortly after 8 p.m. He showered and changed his clothes before driving out to Evan Griffin’s home for a late supper. He had been reluctant to accept the chief’s invitation, but Griffin had insisted. His wife, he said, felt they were being inhospitable to a stranger; and after the day Parker had endured, a home-cooked meal would do him more good than eating at Boyd’s or alone in his room.

The table was set for three when he arrived, and Ava Griffin came out of the kitchen to greet him. She was a tall, slim woman, with a touch of austereness to her looks, although it disappeared as soon as she smiled. Her hair was very dark and her skin very pale. Parker guessed that she was at least fifteen years younger than her husband.

Griffin offered him an O’Doul’s, apologizing for not having anything stronger at hand.

‘I’ve lost my taste for beer,’ said Parker. ‘Water or soda is fine.’

Griffin went outside to bring in some more wood for the fire, although the night was not cold, leaving Parker alone in the kitchen with Ava and the dog, Carter.

‘I’m glad to meet you at last,’ said Ava. ‘Evan’s told me a lot about you.’ She put a hand on Parker’s arm. ‘And I am sorry for all you’ve been through, and all you’re still going through.’

He thanked her. He’d grown used to acknowledging by rote people’s sympathies, but the way in which she spoke to him, and the touch of her hand, caused him to respond with more sincerity than usual. Griffin returned with the firewood, and soon they were all seated at the table, sharing beef short ribs. For a time they spoke of general subjects, including how Griffin and his wife had met. Griffin had been married once before, but his first wife, Embeth, had drowned in Lake Ouachita in the fourth year of their marriage. He’d considered leaving the state in the aftermath, he admitted, but everything he knew was here, and so he stayed. After a couple of years he met Ava through a mutual friend and they hit it off. Parker saw a look pass between them and recognized the depth of their feelings for each other.